Wrestling: Verona Hillbillies send three to Essex County Tournament semifinals

Verona's Mark Riggio battles during the semifinals while his coach Chris Hardenberg yells directions during a Essex County Tournament match at Codey Arena on Jan. 25.

For the third year in a row Verona senior Paul Scully missed out on taking home first place in the Essex County Tournament, this time losing to Newark Academy's Brendon Seyfried in the 132-pound final at Codey Arena in West Orange on Saturday.

"The first two years I had one of the two best kids of the tournament each year," Scully said. "And this year I thought it was my chance, but I came up just short."

Verona's Paul Scully waits for an opportunity to score on Newark Academy's Brendon Seyfried during the finals.

Scully wasn't exaggerating when he said he came up "just short," he lost in overtime 3-1.

The Hillbilly jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period, before Seyfried was able to escape from the bottom position to tie the score up. It was a defensive dual from then on, with neither wrestler willing to make the crucial mistake of being overaggressive.

"I knew he was really tough on top, so I didn't want to go on bottom," Scully said. "I knew I had to try to score from my feet, but he's very good on his feet."

At one point during the third period it looked as though Scully may be in injury trouble, when he appeared to reinjure a knee he had previously had surgery on. After the match Scully said it was more stiffness from the scar tissue than pain that he was dealing with.

In the end it was an overtime takedown that did Scully in, leaving him at 97 career wins and no county titles.

When asked what sort of emotion he was going through, the senior had a one word answer: "devastated."

Even in his first year as the head coach, Pete Foster knows the type of athlete Scully is.

"He does everything you want a wrestler to do," the coach said. "You want to see your kids be successful, but Paul is successful."

Sitting only three wins away from 100 in his career, Foster doesn't think Scully will sit and dwell on the loss.

"He didn't win today but he's got more things to look forward to," he said. "He'll be working as hard as he possibly can on Monday to prepare for the next time he sees that guy."

Beside's Scully's runner-up finish, the Hillbillies also had two wrestlers win in third-place matches.

At 113 pounds, junior Joe Ballentyne was able to pin Seton Hall Prep's Joseph Pratola in the first period of the third-place match.

"He was coming at me hard," Ballentyne said while catching his breath, who explained how he patiently waited until the right moment to get Pratola in a headlock and on his back.

"I was hoping for first, but I lost in the semis so third place was my next choice," he said. "So that's what I was going after."